“The Mercy of the Jungle”, a movie directed by Joël Karekezi, a Rwandan filmmaker, and co-written by Casey Schroen, is having its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

According to the synopsis, the film is set in 1998 at the outset of the Second Congo War. Kivu is the borderland where the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda meet. It is here, in a dense network of forests and hills that Rwandan director Joël Karekezi’s engrossing second feature unfolds.

Set in 1998, shortly after the start of the Second Congo War, “The Mercy of the Jungle” follows a pair of lost Rwandan soldiers as they navigate the wilderness and confront their own existential crises.

Joël Karekezi was born and raised in Rwanda. He studied filmmaking at Uganda’s Maisha Film Lab and at CinéCours. He made his feature directorial debut with “Imbabazi: The Pardon” (2013).